Pathfinder - Bloodrager Archetypes Breakdown

Disclaimer

I will use content from the core rules, but will intentionally omit any content not published
on the official Pathfinder SRD due to the
unmanageable volume of non-SRD content, and the wildly varying quality of non-SRD content.
If you would like me to write handbooks for specific content not published on the official
SRD, please email me and I will consider it on a case-by-case
basis. I will use the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build
handbooks. Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational.

Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances

Green: Good options.

Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character.

Temporary Note: Pathfinder Unchained and Occult Adventures were
both recently added to the SRD. I'm excited to explore them, and I am actively working
on adding their contents to my collection of handbooks. I appreciate your patience while
I make these changes.

Archetypes

The Bloodrager is primarily a Striker, but is supplemented by magical abilities.
Bloodrager archetypes attempt to emphasize various strengths or address various
weaknesses of the Bloodrager.

The Blood Conduit is a really cool concept, but doesn't really work on the Bloodrager.
Spell Conduit is the key mechanic of the Blood Conduit, but with the Bloodrager's
very limited number of spells, the Bloodrager doesn't have enough spells to get through
the day.

Contact Specialist (Ex): An extra feat is always welcome,
and the Bloodrager gets to ignore prerequisites for this feat. Unfortunately, almost
all of the choices are bad.

Improved Bull Rush: Situational.

Improved Grapple: The Bloodrager doesn't get
anything special that makes for a good grappler.

Improved Reposition: Situational.

Improved Trip: Fantastic for many melee characters,
and lets you avoid the Combat Expertise requirements.

Improved Unarmed Strike: The Bloodrager doesn't
get anything that makes them good at unarmed combat.

Spell Conduit (Su): This feels a bit like the Magus's
Spellstrike ability. I'm not certain if you can deliver touch spell while tripping
with a weapon, but based on the flavor of the ability I would assume that you can't.
Either way, this is a great way to add some extra damage. Keep in mind that
Bloodragers don't get a lot of spells per day, so you want to use this sparingly,
and you may want to invest in a whole bunch of pearls of power. Much like the Magus,
Shocking Grasp is likely your best option.

Reflexive Conduit (Ex): Situational. Very few enemies
use combat maneuvers.

Woodland Stride is worthless, and the Bloodrager is not a good summoner.

Unfettered Fury (Ex): Very situational.

Summoning Rager (Sp): By the time you get these spells
the creatures you can summon are so weak that they are worthless in combat. With no
real skill at handling animals, the Bloodrager can't expect to use these animals
as anything but bait.

Furious Summoning (Su): This hardly fixes the fact
that you're summoning creatures too weak to be helpful in a fight. Their attacks
might be slightly better, but their hit points are still puny and their ACs will
be garbage.

Improved Uncanny Dodge is like a fish with a bicycle. It's kind of nice to have so
that you can look at it, but it's totally useless. If you don't take another archetype
which sacrifices Improved Uncanny Dodge, take this. It's fantastic.

Meta-Rage (Su): With some limited spellcasting, metamagic
is generally too difficult for the Bloodrager. This opens up a lot of great options,
but be careful not eat all of your Bloodrage rounds before you get into a fight. When
selecting metamagic feats, forego feats which emphasize damage. Instead, focus on
utility improvements like Extend and Quicken Spell.

Almost no Bloodrager Bloodlines have a perfect list of abilities. The Primalist
can trade in some of their Bloodline abilities for Rage Powers. This allows you to
pick and choose your best options, giving you a lot of flexibility in your build.

Primal Choices: Barbarian Rage Powers offer a huge number
of fantastic options for improving Rage. This opens up those options at nearly no cost,
and allows you to trade in bad bloodline powers for awesome Rage Powers.

The Bloodrager gets access to Beast Shape I and II, Vermin Shape I, and Elemental
Body I. Beast Shape is the only good choice, and you get it so late that it's not a
great option. The Rageshaper improves these options a little bit, but the additions
aren't really meaningful.

Bestial Aspect (Su): The Bloodrager doesn't get a lot
of polymorph spells, but many Bloodrage powers offer natural attacks or new movement
types. Boosting natural weapon damage by one die will almost always amount to an extra
d6, but doing 2d6+ damage on two claw attacks is pretty nice. At high levels the
Bloodrager gets access to Beast Shape I and II. These will be pretty far behind what
a full caster can do at the sam level, but the extra damage and movement help a
little bit.

Furious Transformation (Su): Extending polymorph spells
is very helpful, but by the time the Bloodrager gets access to any polymorph spells
their duration should be adequate based solely on the Bloodrager's caster level.

The Spelleater adds some nice self-healing mechanics to the Bloodrager. Much like
the Barbarian, the Bloodrager often has low AC and draws a lot of damage. This helps
keep you up and raging.

Blood of Life (Su): This should say that increases to
your effective DR add to your fast healing. Fast Healing is fantastic. It applies
in rounds when you don't take damage, and it applies when you take damage from energy
and spells.

Spell Eating (Su): It's like a crappy version of Cure
X Wounds. This is nice in a pinch, but don't plan to rely on it or you'll waste all
of your offensive options on crappy healing.

Steelblood addresses the Bloodrager's AC issue at the expense of some mobility.
This is a fair tradeoff, so if you want to be on the front lines and not constantly
take damage, Steelblood can be an excellent option.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Because they can't use
shields and cast spells, and because Bloodrage applies an AC penalty, Bloodragers
suffer the same AC issues as Barbarians. Heavy Armor goes a long way to fix this.

Indomitable Stance (Ex): Very situational.

Armored Swiftness (Ex): 25 ft. in Full Plate is pretty
good.

Armor Training (Ex): Armor Check Penalty doesn't matter
most of the time, but the additional maximum dexterity bonus will allow you to increase
your AC a bit more as you level and acquire enough gold to get a belt which enhances all
of your physical ability scores.

Blood Deflection (Su): Hopefully you won't need to rely
on this much, but if an attack is really close to a miss this can save you from a
bunch of damage.

The Untouchable Rager is fantastic for killing spellcasters, but lacks much of the
versatility and fun of the Bloodrager.

Raging Resistance (Ex): Spell Resistance is great, and
the scaling is excellent. Most monsters will have problems overcoming your spell
resistance at any given level. However, this ability costs most of the Bloodrager's
iconic abilities, which can make for a very boring build.

Resistance Control (Ex): Very helpful to protect yourself
from ambushes and magical traps.